The fire department in Shawnee, PA decided in July to experiment with solar panels atop one of their trucks, hoping the few panels would produce enough juice to power the many tools that otherwise are often powered by an idling engine. Months later, the firefighters report success.
Being a member of the President’s White House staff is no easy task. President Andrew Jackson actually had two cabinets to hold the union together. One was the formal cabinet which met in the White House and the other was known as his “Kitchen Cabinet” which met after hours across the street.
The Secretary of Energy will not be an easy role to assume. The price of gas may have fallen recently, but that does not make us immune to future shortages and overseas skirmishes over resources. President-elect Obama has been a symbol of American progress. I sincerely hope his choice for the head of the DOE will share his vision and make sure we are on the right path to energy independence.
Victorian Premier John Brumby said, “The Victorian Government supports any initiative that will have positive outcomes in reducing emissions in the transport sector and welcomes this innovative approach to help make broad adoption of EVs in Australia possible.
According to a sweeping report released by the Center for American Progress and authored by researchers from the UMass Department of Economics, if the US government were to invest $100 billion dollars over two years in six key areas of green and sustainable development — including advanced biofuels — the result would be the creation of 2 million high-paying jobs across nearly all sectors of employment.
This represents four times the amount of jobs that would be created if that same $100 billion were invested in the oil industry for things like more offshore drilling. It also represents significantly more jobs of much higher diversity, pay, and longevity than were created by the $100 billion spent last April so that all us ‘mericans could all get our $600 tax rebates.
The Berlin electric vehicle project will have more than 100 cars and 500 charging stations.
Germany’s Daimler has teamed up with Essen-based utility RWE on a pilot project in the country’s capital. The project will see more than 100 electric cars on the road and a network of 500 charging stations. Daimler currently has a pilot project in London, where a test fleet of about 100 first-generation Smart Fortwo electric cars are being used by corporate groups and municipal authorities, including the London Police.
Eva Wiese, a spokeswoman for Daimler, told the Cleantech Group that the new Smart cars in Berlin will have a greater range.
“The London one has 115 kilometers, and we think that with the new battery technology it will be a little better, but we haven’t specified it yet.”
Recent reports have pegged San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla Motors, maker of the high-speed electric Tesla Roadster, as a battery supplier for Daimler, but the Germany automaker is keeping tight-lipped about its power plans. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not all about Sarah Palin in Alaska you know. The latest news from the last frontier (or should that be the final frontier?) is that Alaskan police have pulled over a solar-powered car, which they mistakenly identified as a UFO.For almost two years, Canadian Marcelo da Luz has been driving his solar-powered car, the Power of 1 (Xof1 for short) across North America in an attempt to set a world distance record for a solar vehicle. When he reached Alaska earlier this week, the admittedly off-the-wall looking car was spotted by a concerned citizen, who dialled 911 to report a UFO sighting. Alaskan police quickly took off in hot pursuit, and pulled poor Marcelo over for interrogation.
Nissan plans to launch an electric concept car with solar panels built into its roof.
The Nissan Nuvu will get its power from a dozen or so leaf-shaped solar panels, before energy is channeled into batteries through a ‘tree trunk’ inside the car. Nissan says Nuvu’s cabin will even be built with natural, organic and recycled materials to appeal to environmentalists.
Of course, solar photovoltaic panels are currently not efficient enough to fully power an electric car. They’ll simply supplement the energy supplied by plugging the batteries into the power grid.
The Nuvu’s external dimensions are similar to those of the Toyota iQ, with a 1980mm wheelbase. But the Nuvu is 200mm taller, measuring 1700mm in height, and is just 1550mm wide next to the iQ’s 1680mm. Unusually, it will feature two permanent seats plus a third that can be folded down for occasional use. Nissan claims an integral luggage area will make the car suitable for shopping trips.
This is a guest post by John Addison, publisher of the Clean Fleet Report.
In 1971, a bright engineer, Dr. Andy Frank, was looking to the future. He knew that oil production had peaked in the U.S. and that cheap oil would later peak globally. He calculated how to get 100 miles per gallon, and then he built a hybrid-electric car.
Andy Frank was all smiles as a crowd of 600 applauded at the Plug-in 2008 Conference in San Jose, California, last week. Many in the crowd now drive plug-in hybrids as part of their fleet demonstration programs. A number in the crowd had converted their personal Toyota Priuses or Ford Escape Hybrids. This was a crowd of plug-in converts. Read the rest of this entry »
Okay. Let me get this one out of the way: gas hasn’t been all bad. In fact, gas has allowed us to accomplish some pretty amazing things. To be clear, when I say “gas,” I’m using the term as an easy way to loosely refer to all liquid fuel products made from buried and fossilized hydrocarbon deposits.
Ooooh… I can hear the flamers’ keys clicking away furiously already. But, before you type that horribly thought out gunslinging response, hear me out.
The Problem:
There are 54 million garages for the 247 million registered cars in the US, meaning that the majority of cars are parked overnight in parking structures, parking lots or curbside.
As a result, most potential plug-in vehicle consumers do not have an adequate place to charge their vehicles. This problem is even more pronounced in urban areas like San Francisco, where only about 16% of cars are parked in garages overnight and the rest end up curbside or in parking lots.
Also, although the US power grid probably has enough overall capacity to supply energy to a nation of plug-in vehicles, it may not have the ability to charge them when they all plug-in and demand energy at the same time — say 6 pm every weekday.
Editor’s Note: This is Anthony’s first post as a contributor to Gas 2.0. Anthony works on sugar-based biofuels at the Raines Lab of Petroleum Alternatives, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
I have a lot of admiration for Al Gore. I was in the 7th grade when he lost his bid for the presidency, and even then I could feel that something awful was upon us. Fast forward eight years and we find ourselves in a world where Al Gore is running a campaign to help mankind in a much more focused manner. Instead of defecting to the private sector, Gore remains a public servant dedicated to the environment. Recently, he called for the United States to lead the way to stop global warming, and now he is calling for the United States to be off of carbon based fuels by the year 2018.
Update: Dyson Is NOT Making An Electric Car, A Report from London
The king of vacuum cleaners, James Dyson, is betting that a souped-up version of his vacuum cleaner and hair dryer motors will power cars over hundreds of miles.
Using technology developed for his lightweight electric motors, Dyson hopes to partner with Honda or another car maker, rather than build a car from the ground up.
Solar panels on top of the vehicle, or on the garage where it is stored, would provide electricity to charge the car’s battery. Of course, the best performance would probably come from a country where there’s abundant enough sunshine to keep the battery charged.
Of course, he could also think about adding a plug-in function, just in case it stays cloudy for days on end. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m eagerly awaiting the 4-door, family-sized EV sedan rumored to be in the pipeline from the Canadian-based ZENN Motor Company (they already make a great 2-door model that’s even affordable to us non-celebrity types, picture above). I’d like to avoid going to the gas station at all when going to an Energy Fair or Green Festival. While our VW Jetta TDI gets more than 40 mpg, these days the cost for diesel (and biodiesel when I can get it) is quite a bit more than gasoline, and rising faster than gas.
For now, we’re moving around locally in a funky-looking, all-electric CitiCar, made in 1974. Our CitiCar is restored to roughly original condition (except for the wear and tear on the body itself) with the expert help of our neighbor who found two more after we found ours. It’s hard to go anywhere without people cutting me off — not out of rage — but curiosity or with a smile on their face. Sometimes getting a “head turner” doesn’t need to come at a huge price. Read the rest of this entry »
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